Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Beijing Acrobats and then on to Kunming in Yunnan

What a surprise and delight to see Philip MacMaster for the first time since 2007. We met in Whistler, Canada, at the Adventure Travel Trade Association conference and have kept in touch since then. I was delighted he came to our Beijing hotel, met our Imagine Tours group and was kind enough to be our after-dinner guide to show us the spectacular performing arts center

Today, in Dali, a smaller city on the Yunnan province, our group got our bicycles, new Giant mountain bikes, provided by Grand China Bike Tours. We aspire to do tricks like these by the end of the tour. These acrobats were in Beijing - note the ones on the bottom look a little less happy.

The acrobatics show made me vow to do more stretching on the road. My yoga practice has fallen by the wayside here in China.

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Our group is 15 total, including Nancy Redpath, the Imagine Tours organizer. Two members of our gang are not in this picture which was taken in Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan province in southern China.

One thing our group excels at is eating! This delicious soup is a specialty in Kunming.